city lights sparkle
by moon strut
Summary: It all starts with a simple cup of coffee. And then it's pretty much downhill from there. —natsu&lucy, modern!au
1. untitled

**thoughts: **Some pretty little humor once in a while to keep me nice and sane. And of course it's going to be NaLu 'cause I always_always _have the feels and the only cure is more cowbell.  
So like, I want to make this a connected drabble!series. No, you see, it's perfect 'coz I want to write a chapter story, but I abhor writing anything over 1500 words.  
**summary: **He has cotton candy hair. And very messy handwriting.  
**disclaimer: **I will only say this once: I do not own Fairy Tail. (fuck the police)

* * *

**i.**

Lucy hates waiting in line.**  
**

Like, she _hates _it. Even more than she hates people who don't pick up after their dogs when they just happen to take a fat shit on her lawn, while she is watering her (incredibly perfect and pretty and wonderfully beautiful) plants some five feet away. Or even those annoying assholes who don't understand that movie s are not meant to be dubbed over by the audience, especially when it happens to be a really good movie and they just have to go and ruin the whole damn thing with their stupid talking.

But here she is, standing in line at the Starbuck's located across the entire mall from Barnes & Noble, where she happens to work, and all because it happens to be the _only _Starbuck's.

And to make everything worse, there is only like, _one_ lady in front of her who can't decide (for the past half an hour now) if she wants a sandwich or a cookie. And Lucy internally bashes her head against the counter because _hello_, this is Starbuck's and no one goes here for the food. Honestly.

And then it's (finally) Lucy's turn, and so she gives the 'sup' nod to the dude at the register and he 'sup' nods back. She orders her regular dose of caffeine and he writes it on the cup, and all is going fine until—

Until she notices his _pink _hair, and like, that's not natural. It's _far_ from normal.

So she kind of stares at him and he stares back, and he's smiling at her and it all feels inappropriate in a way.

"Can I get your name?"

"Lucy."

He writes it on a cup and reads back her order, in which she nods in approval, and then yay, it's back to waiting. But when she receives her cup, she notices some writing scribbled messily on the little brown cardboard cup sleeve, and funny, 'cause it looks suspiciously like a phone number. Then her eyes shoot up to glance at the cashier guy who took her order (the one with the pink hair), and he's taking someone else's order but she swears he shoots her half a smile.

Lucy rolls her eyes a bit, and makes sure he's watching as she pointedly crumples up the (innocent) cup sleeve and lets it slip into the trash can. But her victory is short-lived because as she looks back down at her naked cup, feeling _very _proud of herself, she sees a couple of things that make her lip twitch and her smile fall.

Written neatly wherehernameis supposed to be is 'Luigi' (seriously, dude, what the _fuck_), followed by another phone number.

Lucy whips her head back to give him (he-who-hath-cotton-candy-locks) the_ look _and he—well he's still grinning at her with his stupid, ugly (not really) face.

And yeah, she kind of hates him.

,

,

,

(Not really)

* * *

**ending notes: **Yes, this is ongoing thank you for asking.  
Review 'coz you're a wonderfulamazing person?


	2. borrow

******prompt13: **borrow  
**summary: **In which Lucy seriously contemplates breaking his face with a dictionary.  
**thoughts: **I'm having fun with this. Also, the prompts are used very loosely, jsyk.

* * *

**ii.**

"I didn't know you work here, Luigi."

Lucy flinches and turns slowly towards the (rude) voice — who happened to interrupt her as she is working (so not appreciated). She narrows her eyes at the guy with pink hair because yeah, she is still pretty annoyed about what happened last time at Starbuck's. And seriously, did he just call her _'Luigi_?'

"I'm sorry, sir. I think you are confusing me with someone else."

She sighs and turns her attention back to the comic books that are (painfully) out of place — she _swears_ she is going to beat the lunch money out of the kids who did this if she ever catches them.

"So do you still have my number?"

Did he—Did he just ignore her?

He's standing there, leaning lightly on the bookcase with no intention of leaving, dark eyes shining deviously. Yeah, he totally ignored her.

"No," she replies bluntly.

Although she would never admit it, Lucy had already memorized the seven digits and mentally curses her (astounding) ability to absorb information so quickly and— and _unwillingly_.

He frowns at this. "But what if I told you that if you had called that number, a million dollars would be yours right now."

Lucy puts the _Marvel Zombies_ book down and stares at him. "I'd say that's such a big fat lie," she answers deadpan.

He shrugs — with his stupid, stupid shoulders, she adds. (Yeah, she's a sore loser, shut up.)

"Eat lunch with me." Lucy blinks at his sudden (forceful) invitation, pausing in her work once again.

"What."

"Eat lunch with me," he repeats.

She shakes her head violently. "No—No, dude, I don't even know your _name_."

"Natsu. My name's Natsu." She said it in her mind a couple of times and let it silently roll off the tip of her tongue.

"Don't you have work?"

"I'm off today." Great way to spend your day off: _stalking people_.

"Anyway, I don't get off work 'til six." She resumes organizing the same section she's been at for ten minutes now because of _someone here_.

He smirks. "Then I'll just wait 'til then." She rolls her eyes at his persistence. "Hey, while I'm here, can I borrow this book?" He pulls a relatively thick book from pretty much_ no where_, and Lucy kind of just stares at him because he is, hands down, the weirdest person she has ever spoken more than five words to.

"Natsu—" Yeah, she just got chills from saying his name, _whatever_. "—First of all, this is a bookstore. You don't _borrow_ books; you _buy_ them. Secondly, you are holding a dictionary. Third, my name is Lucy, _not_ Luigi."

"So." He stares at her, not at all affected by her previous words. Lucy contemplates breaking his face with a dictionary.

"_So_, you can't just—You have to—_Ugh_, never mind, just do what you want."

Natsu grins at her, and _no_, she does not find it cute. Like, at all. Really.

"See you at six, Lucy." And then he disappears with a bright, bright smile and an armful of dictionary. She sighs and rubs her temples, thinking of all the ways she could get away with murder.

,

,

,

At six o'clock in the evening, Lucy finds a certain young man with pink hair fast asleep in a chair, with a dictionary resting on his lap, neatly open on page two. She rolls her eyes with amusement and gently removes the book from his clutches. She sits and watches him softly breathing, and smiles at nothing in particular.

,

,

,

(And _no_, it's not creepy, so shut up)

* * *

**ending notes: **Natsu is such a flirt. Oh God, I've created a monster.  
Review or I'll beat you up for your lunch money.


	3. hot

**prompt6: **hot  
**summary: **This cake tastes best served HOT.  
**thoughts: **I'll let the 20th reviewer pick the next prompt — but wouldn't it be embarrassing if I didn't even get to 20 before the next chapter?

* * *

**iii.**

Lucy doesn't bother to hide the fact that yes, she is indeed staring at him. He grins at her from across the table and rests his chin on his hand. Between the two, sitting cold and neglected on the tabletop, is a single slice of strawberry cake, laced with white trims of frosting and a dainty strawberry to top it off. She glances at the piece of dessert for a fraction of a second and then she's back to scrutinizing his every move with a skeptical look in her eyes.

She finally breaks the silence by interrogating him, "When you so kindly _asked_ me to eat lunch with you—"

(More like demanded.)

"—did you mean to say 'eat lunch in front of me while I watch with a creepy smile'?"

She wonders how he even got her to go in the first place.

He merely shrugs and either doesn't notice or doesn't mind that she just called him creepy. "It's not exactly lunch. I just wanted to buy it for you to celebrate our newly-established friendship."

"It's drugged, isn't it," she concludes.

Natsu blinks in surprise. As _if _it's a surprise — he_ so _knew_. _"What."_  
_

"You put some sort of date rape drug in there. I can _feel _it." She continues to accuse him shamelessly, prodding the slice with a fork.

Lucy scowls when she hears strangled sounds as he (attempts and pretty much fails to) stifle his laughter at her (perfectly reasonable) assumption. "Stop being such a weirdo, Luce. It's just cake."

He's a quick one, she notes, scowling slightly at the nickname he so naturally decided on. Who was he to give her a nickname? How dare he be so familiar with her despite only knowing her for three days. _Three _days. How_ dare _he_—_!

"You try it first," she suggests, pushing the plate closer to him.

Natsu's pink eyebrow rises. "If I do, _then _will you eat it?"

"I'll think about it."

So he grudgingly lifts a forkful of strawberry cake to his mouth, and Lucy watches closely — and unknowingly leans in — as he licks his lips and smiles. And—and is it getting hot in here or is it just her?

Her thoughts are completely terminated as he shoves another forkful haphazardly before her own lips, saying, "Your turn!"

Lucy freezes because she realizes two things:

1. He just used that fork.  
2. That would be like, indirectly _kissing_.

(And the third thought had to do with her slight attraction to him for that split second, but of course, she chose to ignore that one.)

"No," she weakly pushes his hand away. "That fork has, like, your spit on it and stuff."

He has the _audacity _to roll his eyes at her. "Who cares. You won't even taste it."

"That's not the po—"

Natsu, being the deviously tenacious fellow he is, takes this opportunity as her mouth is open (and busy whining) to plunge the fork in, effectively force-feeding her the cake. She glares at him but bites down anyway — because if she were to remove the offensive fork, full of cake and all, it would be covered in her saliva and that would be gross. So yeah. She eats it.

It's fluffy and soft and sweet and—and damn it, she won't admit it, but it's probably the best cake she's ever had. But, she realizes, there's no need to admit anything because from the way Natsu is grinning at her, she knows that he can _so _tell that it was like eating a piece of heaven.

(And she _swears _the temperature of the room just rose twelve degrees.)

"Erza's cakes are the best," he comments, waving at the redhead at the counter. She smiles at him warmly and continues to sharpen her knives. "So what do think?"

Lucy doesn't meet his gaze and instead picks up the fork, guiding another piece of cake to her lips. _Someone _has to finish the cake, right? And it's not like she didn't _like _eating it or anything and—and _ohmygod,_ why does she have to be such a messy eater 'cause _she just got frosting on her face_.

(Someone do her a favor and murder her. Like, right now.)

Natsu laughs at out loud, bringing a hand up to quickly swipe away the (stupidstupid_stupid_) frosting, his fingers very slightly brushing against her lips.

"I'll—I'll treat you next time," she stammers, trying hard to ignore her self-inflicted humiliation.

Natsu's grin brightens tenfold, and he asks, "Sometime soon?"

Lucy allows herself to return the smile. "Sometime soon."

,

,

,

(But, _god_, why is it so _hot_ in here?)

* * *

**ending notes: **Must. Not. Reach. 1000 words—!


	4. wet

**prompt: **wet — as chosen by **ZeldaFan64  
summary: **She doesn't know what's more perverted—him being shirtless, or her staring at him.**  
thoughts: **You pervert, you. (I kid)  
Hey, so I had an idea—rather than use my own prompts, I want to use YOURS. So review with the prompt you'd like to see, and who knows what I'll pick next.

* * *

**iv.**

_Drip._

Lucy doesn't care that people are staring at her like she had mushrooms growing on the top of her head.

_Drip._

She doesn't care that this is the first time she's ever seen Natsu so stunned—he's standing there with his dark eyes blank and mouth agape.

_Drip._

No, she doesn't care about anything of that. What she _does _care about is getting some coffee and finding a nice, quiet place to cry her heart out, and like, maybe she can just stay there forever and die—

"My God, you're _melting_," he comments, eyeing her carefully. And Lucy really would have punched him in the throat for saying something so _absurd_, but she chooses to squeeze some water out of her damp, matted hair instead. There are a million and some things she could counter him with, but right now she just _can't._

So, she gives him a very miserable look and whines, "I'm very sad right now."

"What happened?" He steps out from behind the counter and places both hands on her shoulders. And seriously, if this were any other day, she would have screamed 'sexual harassment' at him, but she's not exactly thinking straight right now. She wonders why she came to him in the first place in this dire situation—oh right, coffee.

Honestly, she really should have just said 'nothing,' gotten her caffeine, and she'd be on her merry way to work, where she'll get even more stares, and, and—DAMN LEVY FOR NOT BEING HERE WHEN SHE NEEDS HER. Screw her for going to Disneyland with her not-boyfriend (seriously, she is _so_ in denial) and leaving Lucy here to fend for herself against the cold, cruel world.

But _no_, of course things wouldn't go the way she wanted. She just _has _to spill her heart out to this _guy_ who she doesn't even know that well.

Shaking uncontrollably, Lucy takes a deep breath and bombards Natsu with, "My car is in the shop right now, so I had to walk to work, and that is already really really cruel 'cause I live kinda far, and usually I'd ride with Levy 'cause we sorta work together, but NO, she just had to go to Disneyland to make out with that dude with the piercings, and so I'm walking and yeah things are awesome, really, no sweat, but then it starts raining, and what the fuck dude it is June, why is it raining, WHY, and then I stop to look at this heart-shaped puddle 'cause come on, that's pretty sweet, but then some fat kid on his skateboard had the balls to just crash into me and push me into that stupid puddle, and yeah I beat him up for his lunch money, so what, but I realized that I'm all wet 'cause of the rain, 'cause of the puddle, 'cause of that kid, and I'm wearing a white shirt today, do you know what that means, it means my bra is visible, VISIBLE TO ALL EYES, and I can't just walk back home, but I don't have any extra clothes, and, and—"

She stops rambling when he suddenly pulls her in to hug her, and people are kind of staring and her wet clothes makes everything feel uncomfortable, but for some reason, she doesn't want him to let go.

He sighs and whispers into her hair, "Your life totally sucks." Yeah, not exactly the most comforting words.

But she can't lose the last of her dignity and just outright admit that she's enjoying this much needed form of _human contact_, so she asks, "What're you doing."

"What d'ya think I'm doing? I'm giving you a hug, stupid," he laughs a little, and she opens her mouth to protest, only to be cut off when he interjects, "Sh, you need a hug. Don't speak."

She rolls her eyes at this, _maybe _secretly happy and _possibly _feeling a little better. Then he suddenly pulls away (and _no_, she's not disappointed, okay) and grabs her hand, leading her to the back of the café, where he proceeds to _take off his shirt_. And yeah, Lucy's freaking out 'cause she doesn't know if she should scream for help or if she should keep staring at him and his _body_. But when he throws her his black T-shirt, she can only feel confusion as he stands there _shirtless_, hands shoved inside his jean pockets.

When she doesn't make a move to do anything, he looks away and mutters, "Your shirt is see-through."

Only then did Lucy realize what he meant, and never before has she changed her shirt so fast because that means HE SAW HER BRA. OH GOD, HE SAW IT. HE TOTALLY WITNESSED HER STUPID HELLO KITTY BRA THAT NO ONE'S EVER SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT.

She wiggles around in his shirt; it's too big for her but still warm from his own body heat. He puts a small towel over her head and laughs, and she figures it's probably 'cause she looks pretty ridiculous in his clothes.

Lucy stiffens and eyes his naked torso, and he assures her, "Don't worry. I've got extras."

"Thank you," she mumbles, pulling up the collar of the shirt to hide half of her face.

Then he gives her a crooked smile, "So—Hello Kitty, huh?"

"SHUT UP IT WAS ON SALE."

,

,

,

(So what if his shirt smells good 'cause it's not like she's sniffing it or anything.)

* * *

**ending notes: **This one came out longer than I wanted it to, but STILL UNDER 1000 WORDS, awyeeah.  
Be a doll and review?  
Oh, and can you cool kids do me favor by **voting on my poll**? Thanks (:


	5. lace

**prompt: **lace — as chosen by Michelle**  
summary:** Oh, the pains of minimum wage.  
**notes:** see, i haven't forgotten about this. good seeing you guys again.

* * *

**v.**

"Ugh, why are you so beautiful?"

Face pressed persistently against the glass of the display case, Lucy groans some more and rubs the surface longingly. Oh, the pains of living with minimum wage.

Another face appears next to her, eyes filled with curiosity and... malevolent intentions. Probably. Most likely. Shhh, she knows it's there.

Lucy pushes the head of pink hair further away because, like, hello there exists a thing called _personal space_. And if he invaded said space, that could totally count as sexual harassment. Seriously. It's the law. Lucy studies, okay.

"3DS?" Natsu inquires, raising those annoyingly perfect eyebrows at her.

"Yes," she sighs. "And that baby will be mine by the next paycheck."

"Really."

Lucy's eyes narrow. There's something about the way he said that, that just kind of makes her want to punch him in the throat. But no worries, she is the better person here, and so she will refrain from wasting her energy on petty arguments. She'll just walk away...

—and of course he follows her into GameStop.

He must have caught wind of her super laser eye beams piercing at the side of his head, as he puts a hand on her shoulder—

(How DARE he!)

—and says, "Easy, I'm just here to buy a game."

Oh. _Sure_ he is.

"A likely story." Lucy comments before walking off fabulously to browse the selection of 3DS games.

Here's the ingenious plan, courtesy of one amazing Lucy Heartfilia:

1. Get paid. Minimum wage (fuck you, manager, thanks).

2. Purchase outlandishly beautiful purple 3DS.

3. Purchase Fire Emblem: Awakening.

4. Lucy lives happily ever after, with her 3DS and her virtual husband, Chrom.

In—fucking—genious.

"Hey, Luce—"

"Shut up. Just shut up right now." Lucy inhales and takes one last lingering look at the game before returning it to its place on the stand, with _very much _difficulty. "Okay, what is it?"

Natsu offers her a crooked smile. There is absolutely NO GOOD that could come from that cute—oops, scratch that—stupid, stupid grin.

"I'll buy you any game you want if you can beat me in a round of whatever the demo is."

A skeptical eyebrow raises. "That sounds shady."

"I'm not kidding."

"..."

"_Really_."

She blows a raspberry and mumbles, "Fine. And if I lose?"

"Gimme a kiss."

Sexual harassment! Is this not sexual harassment!? Like she'd be so foolish as to accept such a ludicrous offer...

"Deal." What. The. Hell. Lucy. WHAT THE HELL.

So what if the punishment is a kiss. She's played Street Fighter and Soul Calibur before. This is nothing, pssh.

...And the game happens to be Cooking Mama for the Wii. Awesome.

Okay, nothing hard so far. Just washing some rice and—oh shit, spilled the rice. Wonderful. Well at least Natsu also sucks balls at this game. Yeah, getting better. Oh, Lucy is feeling so proud of herself at this very moment. There is no way her score is going to be lower than his, as long as she can just...

"I always pictured you as the type to wear lace."

Did—did he just comment on her _underwear_? Has it been showing this entire time!? More importantly, mother fucker just made her spill _everything_.

"You bitch!" She screeches, stabbing him in the side with Wii remote. He's laughing out loud, and yeah who cares if it's a really, really cute laugh, HE IS FINDING JOY FROM HER MISERY.

And yes, just as Lucy is about to launch another onslaught of stabs (that are more than likely damaging the hardware of the controller), Natsu pulls something from his back pocket and places it in her murderous, little hands.

"What's this."

"For you," he shrugs.

Lucy quickly removes the bag (GameStop, huh?) and—_hello_, future husband Chrom. It is Awakening, and it is absolutely beautiful.

She hugs it tightly to her bosom and stares up at Natsu, not really knowing what to say. Goodness, do not let her cry right now.

"Thank—Thank you, you are so kind and wonderful and—why?"

"To see your reaction." He grins. "A'ight," he pats her head. She lets him. "Time for my shift. See ya'round, Luce."

He leaves.

And then he pops his head back in, "You owe me cake _and_ a kiss now."

Oh, well played, Dragneel. Well played.

,

,

,

(Step 2 of the plan will be revised: Purchase outlandishly beautiful purple 3DS and name it 'Natsu.' He should feel _so_ grateful.)

* * *

**notes: **i ship chrom&me. just sayin'.


	6. fire

**prompt: **fire — Rivendell101**  
summary:** Who needs jobs anyway.  
**notes:** this is completely irrelevant but omfg i went to disneyland on monday and it was fucking magical and i _finally_ bought one of those cute headbands that you can't really wear anywhere _but_ disneyland. then there were the fireworks and _second star to the right _came on and i felt like a kid again i swear.

* * *

**vi.**

"I'm so _bored_."

Lucy continues to whine, kicking her feet around beneath the wobbly (it _always_ is) table. Carefully, though, because she is wearing her Doc Martens and they are worth almost as much as her dog's life. Almost.

And either Natsu has failed to hear her (rather blatant) cry for help, or he is simply _choosing_ not to. But either way, he's all green apron, black tee, and sweet-as-sugar smiles. Like always.

"Natsu!" She half-whispers (half because it's basically yelling, really), but of course he's busy, you know, doing his job. And she knows it. But a girl can hope.

(She ignores the fact that she is here _way_ too often, and the excuse of Starbuck's being 'convenient' is virtually useless as it is pretty much across the entire mall from where she works.)

"You can be _super_ annoying sometimes, you know that."

Lucy almost rejoices at the familiar voice and immediately ceases her mini-tantrum when Natsu joins her in the seat across.

He takes a sip of his passion tea lemonade and pauses, eyes staring off at nothing in particular. Then he makes a comment:

"This table. It wobbles."

Oh, does it now.

"Entertain me." Lucy demands, reaching over to steal his lemonade. He makes good drinks, okay. It's like his measuring and mixing skills are at a power level of over 9000. Or something. Shhh, just—forget it.

"Get your own drink, greedy." He _almost_ pouts, and she _almost_ wants to pinch his cheeks. _Almost_.

"Then make me one."

His eyebrow raises. "Are you gonna pay for it?"

Lucy's nose scrunches up. "Am I going to spend—Nope."

"Then, no." Natsu jabs his tongue at her and quickly retrieves his lemonade from her clutches. How dare he—!

"I bet your house smells bad." Yeah, she's getting petty. So what.

He scowls. "My place smells like Febreeze, okay. It is fragrant like fresh laundry and you are just jealous."

"Nope. I'm gonna buy you some scented candles, ones that smell like cookies and cake and Christmas. I'll buy you some every once in a while, and then we will light them all up at one time, and your house will smell like one convoluted mess of goodness." Her eyes meet his and they twinkle. "It'll be great."

Natsu snorts and laughs a little, probably speechless because her idea is so amazing and wonderful. He so wishes he could have thought of something like that.

"I should set Barnes & Nobles on fire," he then muses aloud, stirring around the ice with his straw.

Lucy gives him a pointed look, because, um, what the _fuck_ does he mean exactly.

"Okay. Why."

"So you never have to leave and go back to work. You can just stay here forever."

Then he gives her the saddest, most heart-wrenchingly adorable look she has ever laid her eyes upon. And yeah, she died a little just now.

,

,

,

(She can always skip an hour of work. Or a few. Maybe more.)


	7. kiss

**prompt: **kiss  
**notes:** got a prompt? give it to me.

* * *

**vii.**

Sometimes, Natsu can be a complete sweetheart.

And sometimes, Lucy finds it rather difficult to maintain a straight face around him. And then she asks herself, over and over again, how he managed to deceive her into skipping work the other day.

He must have hypnotised her with his eyes, she concludes.

(It's incredibly hard _not_ to get lost in them.)

She suddenly pauses in her work, reorganizing the romance novels (with pictures of, like, half-naked men on the covers—how is this not porn, again?), and stomps her foot, hard.

(Yeah, her foot stings now, but that's not important.)

Why that cunning, devious, manipulative...

"Hi, Lucy."

OH, LOOK, SPEAK OF THE DEVIL. It's Natsu, and he is about to get the lecture of a lifetime. No, he will not hear the end of it, becayse it's entirely _his_ fault she was _that_ close to losing her job, and that means _no more money_, and she cannot afford that.

Lucy readies her scolding voice, clearing her throat with a series of light coughs. Deep breaths, in and out.

"Natsu, you better listen, because—"

He grabs her hand mid-sentence and places a cup of iced green tea in it, gently guiding her fingers for a better grip.

"—you are just a swell guy, really, wow."

This is _exactly_ what she means when he gets all sweet on her, and, honestly, it scares the shit out of Lucy. Like, how can he make her feel irritated one moment and all smiley and giddy the next?

She'll have to proceed with the utmost caution.

But for the mean time...

Lucy immediately starts sucking the life out of the drink, not really caring if she looks like a survivor of the Gobi desert. So what if he basically bribed her—it definitely worked.

"Is this free, by the way?" She asks between sips.

The corners of Natsu's lips curl upward. "For me, yes. For you—"

She _swears_ there's a glint in his eye.

"—No."

Fuck.

"How much, then?" She resists the strong urge to pout hard and swallows her attempt at guilt tripping him.

There's a short pause before he answers: "Play a game with me, and I'll give you the drink."

Lucy gives him a pointed look. "But I'm working." Obviously.

"C'mon, just Twenty Questions, then."

Is he—Is he border-line begging her right now?

"Too many."

"Ten?"

"Five."

"_Five_?"

"Okay, would you prefer none?"

He scowls and crosses his arms. "Fine. Five it is. I'll start—What's your last name?"

A perfect (seriously, it is) blonde eyebrow shoots heavenward.

"Heartfilia," Lucy answers anyway. "Yours?"

"Dragneel."

"Interesting," she rubs her chin, and by now the porno book on the shelves are pretty much forgotten about. "Why did you even come here?"

He has the gall to _roll his eyes_ at her. "Obviously to buy books on how to get away with arson in the second degree." He replies with a completely serious face. So... Is this a joke, or... "And," he continues. "Don't even answer 'cause that was a total waste of a question. I hope you're proud of yourself, Lucy Heartfilia."

She decides to heave an exasperated sigh at his comment.

"'Kay, then, ask away, Mister Expert-at-Asking-Stupid-Questions."

"That," he points at her. "was rude. Also, when am I ever getting my kiss?"

What was that.

Did he just say what she thought she heard, because hello, that was seriously random. And weird. And not exactly something she'd like to remember.

She scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest. He is completely hopeless, staring at her as if she is obligated to provide such idiotic information. She blinks at him.

And then she has an idea. (They're good ideas, okay. Mostly.)

Lucy rummages around in her pocket and grabs his hand, facing it upward. She then places a single thimble in his outstretched palm, internally giggling at her clever (dorky) gesture.

Natsu looks at it, and then he glances up at her. "First of all, why do you carry this around with you?"

Uh, good question. Well. A girl's got her reasons and... Shut up.

"Also, you suck at this game. I'm taking my drink back." Natsu shoots her a devilish grin before pulling the cup from her hand and guiding the straw to his upturned lips. Oh, he _so_ did not.

How cruel of him. Honestly.

Then, he suddenly takes her by the hand, dragging her towards the exit of the bookstore. "C'mon—let's go on an _adventure_."

Lucy's jaw drops, because, uh, what. "Huh? But my lunch break is only an hour long and—_where are we going_?"

Natsu looks back and offers her a crooked smile. That could mean _anything_.

"_Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning_." He recites, laughing at her shocked (stupid) expression. "_That_, said Natsu to Lucy, _is the way to Neverland_."

She stares at him a while longer before finally pulling him down to plant a quick kiss on his still-smiling lips.

,

,

,

(It's 'cause she owed him one, okay. Besides, he countered her _Peter Pan_ reference with a better _Peter Pan _reference. That kiss was well-deserved.)

* * *

**notes: **i had to do it, and y'know what, if i had a guy quote me peter pan like that, i'd kiss him too. maybe.


End file.
